Justin Timberlake brings his “It’s Gonna Be May” meme to the TikTok trend
I will be that.
*NSYNC frontman Justin Timberlake took to TikTok on Sunday and admitted that the mispronunciation of the word “me” in his 2000 hit “It’s Gonna Be Me” has haunted him over the years.
The video, which has been viewed nearly 16 million times as of Monday, shows the former boy band member responding to the video prompt.
“What word did you mispronounce once and it still haunts you to this day?” asked TikTok user Gabi Hartman.
The video then switches to Timberlake, 42, wearing a black tank top and necklace.
“Um, Me,” the “Cry Me a River” singer smiled before abruptly ending the video.
The text, which sounds like “It’s gonna be maybe,” has become a widely shared meme in the internet community, usually used around the end of April or the first day of May.
Although Timberlake begged fans to use the correct pronunciation, many refused.
“It will forever be called Mayyyyyyyy,” one fan commented.
“I will never not share the ‘It’ll be May’ meme,” joked another.
“‘It’s gunna be may’ will stay in our lives forever,” a third user explained.
One fan even went so far as to call it “the most epic mispronunciation ever!”
However, the revelation surprised at least one user.
“Wait… it was supposed to say, ‘It’ll be me,’ I’m screaming,” claimed the user, who later added that she was “all alt-rock and punk back then” and just assumed that was the song was about a girl named Mai.
The song, released on June 13, 2000, was part of the group’s third studio album, No Strings Attached, and charted at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Timberlake reunited with his former bandmates Joey Fatone (46), Lance Bass (44), JC Chasez (47) and Chris Kirkpatrick (51) at the MTV Video Music Awards last week. They presented Taylor Swift with the award for best pop video at the ceremony and announced the next day that they were releasing a new track, “Better Place,” for Timberlake’s new “Trolls Band Together” film.
The band previously attended the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony together in 2018 and briefly performed at Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award VMA medley in 2013.
